Sharon Willems became Artistic Director of Barons Court theatre at the end of 2021, succeeding Ron Phillips who held the post since the founding of the theatre in 1991. She is joined in her appointment by new Executive Director Leo Bacica. The pair run independent theatre company Kibo Productions and will continue to create work at Barons Court Theatre and beyond.

Willems built a relationship with Barons Court through her work as the Artistic Director of Kibo. “I got a call randomly last year” explains the delighted Willems. It all started in 2013 when she brought ‘Love Hate and Human Rights’ to Barons Court. It was a theatrical response to Russian Article 6.21 and other Human Rights concerns Worldwide, with a cut of the box office takings being donated to Amnesty International. The event featured eight plays showcasing emerging artists. 

Kibo’s continued connection with Barons Court resulted in an invitation (from outgoing theatre manager Chris Deal and Young’s Brewery) to run the Theatre. Willems is particularly interested in “works in translation” and international artists who are “finding their way into theatre in the UK.” There is a real international flavour to Kibo. Willems’ father is from the Caribbean, although most of her formative years were spent in Atlanta. Kibo also has strong connections to Romanian culture, not least because Bacica is Romanian but also because the Romanian Institute is close to the theatre. The pair are keen to establish a relationship with their local community. Willems reels off a list of some of their neighbours including Grenada High Commission, Queens Tennis Club and LAMDA Drama School.  Willems is working out “how to collaborate with other groups and community groups, thinking about audiences and what they want to see.” Also working out how to include families with young children. “We’re talking with parents about the timing of shows so they can come and see things” she explains. She also mentions that she is personally very keen to offer NHS free tickets or discounts where possible, because her mother was a nurse but also because she had Covid.  “I was sick in hospital in intensive care during the first wave in 2020, and the NHS literally saved my life” she says with much gratitude. 

Willems studied dramaturgy at the prestigious Theatre School at DePaul University in Chicago. ‘’It’s a highly competitive program in the States’’ explains Willems “Chicago has a wonderful theatre scene” she adds. Following her degree she took a job teaching English in Japan. “At 22, I didn’t feel as though I knew enough about the world to make art about it, and I wanted to learn about other cultures.”  She also taught herself Japanese. Willems clearly has a talent for languages which she says might have begun in her early years when she picked up papiamento while living in her father’s home country Aruba in the Caribbean. She can understand some Spanish, and she’s also learning French. 

Following the months of uncertainty due to Covid, Willems believes that many “artists are feeling completely at sea, not knowing whether there is a place for them in the industry.” She is keen to make a safe space for them at Barons Court Theatre. “If they have a story, it doesn’t matter whether they’ve trained or not trained, and it doesn’t need to be the way that I see theatre” says Willems. She is keeping an open mind about that, particularly as she is also “exploring the space at Barons Court and finding out about its potential” herself. Her own tastes in theatre are very specific.   “As a woman, it’s important to open up spaces for people like me; immigrants, women, people from other cultures” says Willems. 

Kibo creates intimate political theatre from unheard voices from around the world.  In November 2021 they produced a script in hand reading of Maryland by Lucy Kirkwood at Barons Court, hot on the trail of its premiere at the Royal Court in October 2021. It was written following the murder of Sabina Nessa and the rape and murder of Sarah Everard. Kibo used this as an opportunity to raise money for Solace Woman’s Aid, a Leeds based charity which provides psychotherapy and support to the survivors of persecution and exile.

Kibo also staged a production of Tea Set by Gina Moxley (at Edinburgh Festival & Chelsea Theatre) working with Age Scotland and the Silver Line. The play is about an elderly woman who is raped and the carer who looks after her. It shows the impact on the woman and on her carer’s mental health after hearing her story. “Women are not historically given gender parity and it certainly is a focus of ours as a company” says Willems. “That’s not to say we don’t programme cishet men but we do our best to ensure we’re not just hitting one side or the other.” 

The programme at Barons Court will create new opportunities for early career and underrepresented artists. Recently, they hosted a collective of neurodivergent artists looking for a space to meet and make work. “We’re offering them space to enable them to decide what kind of work they want to make” explains Willems. The theatre also offers a fair financial model to companies that stage work with them. “Our hope is that this will create an inclusive, collaborative and welcoming space for artists and our local community at Barons Court” says Willems. It’s also on her agenda to make sure that artists with children are not excluded.  “If an actor has a young child and is struggling with childcare, I’m happy for the child to be in the dressing room, for example. We need to think creatively sometimes if we want to break down barriers”  Other help that they plan to offer is supporting funding applications and they aim to find investors, “people who care about the same things as we do” so that they can “do more things.”

In these days of concerns about sustainability and accessibility, Kibo is considering how they can upgrade the theatre space itself. They are keen to change the lights to LED lights which use less electricity and last much longer. Eventually they hope to replace the fixed seats to “make it easier to get in and out of” and to make the space “more flexible for theatre companies”.

Currently they have two shows coming up, Marlowe’s FAUSTUS THE DAMNED and DUCKS by Hannah Kennedy. The first is planned to coincide with Marlowe’s birthday.  DUCKS is an in-house show produced by Kibo planned for 15 – 19 February.  A Playwriting Course is planned for March with many more events in the pipeline including a ‘Sunday Fix’ for new writers. “It will allow writers to see bits of new writing and to feel less isolated” suggests Willems. It is also certain that the venue will be featuring cabaret as Executive Director Leo Bacica has worked as a technician for two decades and was resident technician at Cafe de Paris until 2020. He is very passionate about bringing international theatre in front of British audiences, with a strong focus on his native Romania. 

Finally, the last word must go to Willems who is tremendously proud to be entering this new phase of her career.  She expands on this: “I didn’t know anyone when I first arrived here. I started out volunteering, working for free with companies. I’m proud of the shows I’ve made and relationships I’ve built, and now I’m in a position to help other artists. It is a great place to be. I’ve survived covid and survived the ins and outs of the industry. Now I can be a force for good.”

The full programme of shows at Barons Court Theatre can be viewed here https://www.baronscourttheatre.com/what-s-on